A man stabbed his pregnant girlfriend 37 times after she discovered his affair with a British woman before stuffing her body in his car and going for lunch with his mum, a court heard.

Barman Alessandro Impagnetiello, 31, admitted to brutally killing his seven-month pregnant girlfriend Giulia Tramontano after she met his British lover. But after brutally killing her, Impagnetiello calmly watched a football match on his phone and then went for a meal with his mum.

He told the Court of Milan, in northern Italy, on May 27: “I was having lunch at my mother’s with the body in the car.” Later, local media reported he attempted to burn and hide her body before taking her passport, bag and cash to make it look like she left him.

The court heard that Impagnetiello broke down during police questioning and led officers to where he had hidden Giulia’s body. Police said he doused Giulia with rat poison for months in order to bring about a miscarriage after he learned she was pregnant.

Police said they found online searches for “ammonia foetus,” “rat poison” and “how much rat poison is needed to kill a person” on the cheat’s phone and other devices.

He had also bought chloroform under a fake name, and Giulia complained of feeling ‘drugged’ to friends and family, the court heard. Prosecutors told how Impagnetiello had hacked Giulia to death with a knife while she was taking a bath.